Jaxon's 1st birthday

Party Recap

I had so much fun planning my son's 1st birthday! It literally took a whole year. I recommend if you know the theme for your party to start early because I was able to get a lot of good deals by searching every month in different stores.

I had a full candy buffet and I tried to stick with the theme and colors for the candy. The kids and adults had a blast filling up their bags of candy before they went home.

We had a 2 different kinds of sub sandwiches made, spaghetti and meatballs, potato salad, cole slaw, strawberry lemonade and of course all the foods from the book TVHC.

I made most of all the decorations myself, but I did have to special order the Hershey bar wrappers and the invitations (found those people on Etsy).

Since this was a large room, I had several TVHC crafts set up, a bean bag toss (TVHC's head), and "bozo" buckets. We also had a magician come and that took up a lot of time and the kid's had a blast with him.

Overall, it was a fun party and exhausting on my end, but totally worth it for my son.

Theme

Guests

50

Location

Park district / Chicago / IL

Date

22 June 2013

Idea

Party Highlights

Desserts

the caterpillar cake, a smash cake for my son and a candy buffet: different kinds of candy, cupcakes that looked like apples, chocolate covered strawberries, and marshmellows that looked like caterpillars.

Party Favors

I tried to stick with the theme :I bought red and green buckets from Target for $.30 and filled them. I had small bubbles (bought in a pack from Target), small strawberry plants from Target for $.30 and I printed TVHC and cut him out and glued him to the top because they were from Valentine's Day and it worked perfect because no one even knew, different types of candy. I found TVHC bookmarks and name tags from Staples (ordered them shipped to store). I put the name tags on the front of each bucket and laminated the bookmarks so that each kid got a bookmark in their bucket too, I also filled each bucket with green easter grass that I got for $.05 a bag after Easter. I tried to make it as much as TVHC as I could.

Activities / Games

Magician, bean bag toss game - I cute out TVHC's head on to a thick red poster board and cut a large hole in his mouth, had "bozo" buckets in the shape of the caterpillar 5 green and 1 red, TVHC coloring sheets, and a craft where you glue red and green pom poms on to a foam apple (foam apple's were from Target too $.30).

Budget

I didn't have a budget, but I know it cost some $. This party took a year to plan so I did my best by hitting up Target. Their dollar section goes to 70% off so I got a lot of things for $.30. I also got very lucky and when planning this in the beginning, Target was carrying some TVHC stuff - so I was able to get TVHC crayons, plastic toddler plates, matching toddler silverware, tote bags, and socks for my son.

What People Ate

I had Italian and American sub sandwiches, cole slaw, potato salad, spaghetti and meatballs, chips, and all the foods from TVHC.

What People Drank

strawberry lemonade, lemonade, water, and different variety of pop

Best Moment

Watching my son go to town on his smash cake.

Funniest Moment

The magician. He was hilarious.

Most Touching Moment

watching my son watch the magician show. He loved the real bunny.

Best Dressed

My son of course - he was sportin' his shirt that I ordered from Etsy and his matching TVHC socks.